After an accident occurs in a warehouse, or after you narrowly avoid an accident, it is the responsibility of the warehouse manager to return the operation to its normal state. They must take steps after a near miss to avoid running into similar problems in the future. Running through the events that led to a potentially dangerous situation is necessary to avoid repeating that same mistake and will help dictate procedures moving forward.
Evaluate What Went Wrong
The first step is to paint a clear picture of what went wrong so you can better understand why it happened. Interviewing the parties involved and adding their perspective of what happened will be highly beneficial. Reviewing video footage, if there is any available, can further clarify what happened. After collecting all the facts and creating your incident report, you can analyze the flaws in your current procedures.
Reassess Your Work Process
Take what you have learned from your evaluation of the situation and acknowledge all the points of failure in your current work process. This can be anything from faulty equipment and unstable racking structures to poor lighting or visibility. Whatever the weaknesses in the system are, make a note of them so you can improve them in the future.
Review Employee Training
You may even need to correct employee behavior. Look to see that everyone did their job properly and that they were not the cause of the accident. If they were, it could necessitate anything from additional training all the way up to termination of employment.
Bring in an Outside Perspective
We often become blind to our own processes. This makes us a somewhat unreliable party when having to reevaluate our own systems. Hire an outside safety consultant to thoroughly look over your company’s safety procedures. They can provide further clarification on what went wrong and can provide suggestions based on your own reports.
Focus on Preventative Measures
The final step to take after a near miss is putting to use everything you have learned from the experience. Increase visibility for workers so they can properly operate warehouse vehicles or have employees go through extra training before they are allowed to use vehicles. Installing rack protection products to decrease the severity of collisions. The preventative measures you put in place will be contingent upon the underlying issue for the near miss.
